Dell Committee Strikes A Deal, Changes Voting Rules, Record Date

Dell Inc (NASDAQ:DELL)’s special committee has reached a deal with founder Michael Dell and his partner Silver Lake. The buyout group has agreed to buy the PC maker and take it private for their increased bid of $13.75 per share, reports CNBC’s David Faber. In return, the special committee has agreed to change the voting rules—something the committee refused to do just days ago.

Dell to pay a 13-cent special dividend

In addition to the increased per share price and the new voting rules, Dell Inc (NASDAQ:DELL) will pay a special dividend of 13 cents per share. Under the terms of the new deal, the record date will be pushed to the middle of this month.

Record date, voting rules changed

Activist investor Carl Icahn has been trying to keep the go-private deal from happening, and his latest attempt came on Thursday when he sued Dell to try to keep it from changing the record date or the voting rules. The record date is the date when shareholders must have owned their shares by in order to be allowed to cast their vote on the deal. The previous record date was June 3, so by making it later, more shareholders will have the right to vote on the deal.

Icahn also wanted to keep Dell from changing the voting rules, but the special committee caved to Mr. Dell’s demands. Under the new rules, shareholders who abstain from voting will not have their votes counted as no votes. Instead, only the votes which are entered will count toward the final vote total.

Dell shares on the rise

In premarket trading, shares of Dell Inc (NASDAQ:DELL) spiked 5 percent after the deal between the company and Mr. Dell was announced. As of this writing, the price was holding steady just below $13.65 per share, which was the original per-share offer made by Mr. Dell.

If Icahn’s lawsuit doesn’t keep Dell’s special committee from changing the record date to the middle of this month, then it means that shareholders who buy their shares over the next couple of weeks will have the right to vote on the go-private deal.